Summerlin artist asks for return of World War II painting

It’s a painting that depicts history and a family heirloom, and its artist, Sam Chinkes, said he wants it back.

Chinkes, 79 and an Army veteran, loaned his painting “World War II Self Portrait” to the Gobel-Lowden Veterans Center & Museum, 3333 Cambridge St. The museum has since closed, and his painting was not returned.

“It’s a personal heirloom, as I see it,” he said. “It was painted in 1951.”

He loaned the painting in 2001. It measures about 14 inches by 17 inches and was executed using poster color. It depicts his experiences with the Army through vignettes –– getting vaccinations, doing manual labor and in combat gear. The final vignette shows a grinning Chinkes running off with his discharge notice.

For a couple of years after loaning it, the Summerlin resident went to the museum about once a week and used his artistic talents to decorate the rooms, paint walls and design exhibits. He stopped volunteering around 2003. The museum closed in 2005, and its exhibits were taken down.

A notice for artists to retrieve their items was posted in the newspaper, but Chinkes said he never saw it. In fact, he said he had no idea the museum had shut down. He was so unaware that in 2010, he decided to resume volunteering and drove there only to find the door locked. It did not cause concern, he said.

“They were always, sometimes, a little late,” he said. “So I just waited around. I looked around and asked a passer-by, ‘You know anything about the museum opening?’ and he said, ‘It’s locked. Everything’s out.’ ... I was immediately alarmed. I look in the window. I don’t see anything.”

He went home and tried to call the Gobels but said he couldn’t reach them. He spoke to Paul Lowden, who told him the items were in a warehouse and unreachable.

“I could understand the logic, but I thought they were still safe,” Chinkes said. “He told me to call Stacy Lucas.”

Lucas is with the Nevada Office of Veterans Services and had helped pack the unclaimed items. She sent him a copy of the notice.

It said, “The defunct museum owned and operated by Edward Gobel ... will need to find a new home. The Nevada Office of Veterans Services, which has absorbed the cost associated with the storage of these items since the museum closed, is unable to continue because of the cuts to the agency’s budget. Legislation failed in the 2009 session to establish a permanent veterans museum. All items that are currently in storage in the North Las Vegas PODS –– Portable On Demand Storage –– facility will need to be removed. Recognizing that items displayed or stored at the former museum may be of monetary, historical or of sentimental value, it is the agency’s desire to return these to their owners.”

It included dates and times when owners could reclaim their items.

According to veterans services’ records, more than 2,000 individual items were retrieved, inventoried, categorized, photographed and are now safely stored in climate-controlled PODS. Binders containing descriptions and photographs of the items retrieved will be maintained at veterans services’ Las Vegas office.

View left messages for Lucas, but they were not returned.

Chris Lowden said his family simply allowed the use of the building and had no hands-on involvement.

“What a horrible story that was,” Lowden said. “We used to own the building, and we had donated the use to Ed Gobel, and apparently they did a bunch of repairs to the buildings, didn’t pay the bills, the building got leined, one of those things. So we found out and went, ‘Whoa.’ We had to pay the repair bill so we wouldn’t lose the building, and we ultimately sold the building. But in that process, Gobel had –– I have pictures –– it looked like somebody had ransacked the place. It looked like a crack house, was completely destroyed. ... When I say ‘ransacked,’ ‘crack house,’ it was just unbelievable. I mean, people cried to see what had happened.”

Chinkes contacted the Nevada Office of Veterans Services and received a letter from executive director Caleb Cage, dated Dec. 18, 2012.

“I received a letter from you on Dec. 6 regarding your painting depicting your WWII service,” it said. “I’m happy to discuss this matter with you further. However, I must add that, as you point out in your news article, the agency closed its relationship with the museum and related materials in May of 2010. Since I started here in August of 2010, and the people who were involved in the museum have since retired, or otherwise moved on, I do not have any direct information to share.”

View was eventually referred to Katherine Miller, deputy director at veterans services.

Like Cage, she was unfamiliar with the museum and its history but did a little research and called back to read an email from her boss, Cage.

“It says, ‘We have been in contact with him, Mr. Sam Chinkes,’ ” she read, “ ‘and his attorney in recent months and provided all the information we have on the museum. However, since we never had possession of his painting, we can’t help beyond that. We are aware that Mr. Chinkes has a concern. He did contact us, as did his attorney, and we’ve provided them all the information we have on the museum.’ ”

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.